The fi ne art of style guide design The fi ne art of style guide design

marketing
marketing
Cartoon partners
Just down the path from Zoo
Atlanta’s world-renowned Panda
exhibit is an attraction that
houses a different breed of wildlife
entirely. In a paddock lined with TV
monitors rather than bamboo shoots,
packs of uninhibited kids roar like
lions and laugh like hyenas alongside
classic cartoon icons including Yogi
for wild animals Bear and Magilla Gorilla.
The “Wild Like Me” exhibit
launched last spring with the aid
of sponsoring partner Turner Broadcasting System, and the zoo is
anticipating that it will see a 30% hike in traffi c this year, due in part
to the birth of a baby panda.
“Parents love it because their kids can blow off some steam
and learn at the same time,” says Dennis Adamovich, SVP of
marketing at Cartoon Network, which supported its hometown
zoo philanthropically for years. The goal for the zoo was
to instill empathy for animals in future generations, so visitors
are encouraged to do things like build an animal habitat, measure
their height and strength to see how they’d stack up in
the animal kingdom, and act out the part of animals in a nature
mockumentary starring Yogi and other Boomerang characters.
Cartoon isn’t the only broadcaster to have embraced the
zoo experience as a brand-building opportunity. Nickelodeon is
embarking on a major campaign based around its nature-themed
Go, Diego, Go! series at the Miami Metrozoo this summer as part
help zoos connect
with kids and instill
in them an empathy
24 MAY 2007
THE FUTURE
IS WILD
NICK AND CN
MONKEY WITH
ZOO BRANDING BRANDING
b y k a t e c a l d e r
of a fi ve-year partnership. The centerpiece of the undertaking
is an Amazon & Beyond exhibit that’s in the works for 2008.
When it’s fi nished, this 27-acre rainforest will support 1,000 species
such as harpy eagles, giant river otters and anacondas, and
Diego elements will include a stage show, stamping stations,
fi eld journals and educational materials for schools.
The stage show will run this year to tease the exhibit’s launch,
along with Diego costumed character appearances on-site and
at various marketing events throughout the state. “He’s basically
going to help us build awareness for the Amazon & Beyond
opening,” says the zoo’s marketing director, Paul Vrooman, adding
that he’s expecting record-setting attendance this summer.
Miami Metrozoo was actually on board to play a role in
Diego’s launch in 2005, through a partnership Nick had set up
with the American Zoo Association. The plan was for zoos across
the country to run poster giveaways that would be promoted by
radio spots in each local market. But Metrozoo had to pull out
of the stunt because it was scheduled to run just as zoo staff were
boarding up the park to withstand Hurricane Katrina.
Diego’s trip to the zoo dovetails nicely with the start of
Go, Diego, Go Live: The Great Jaguar Rescue, a cross-country
touring show that will travel to 50 markets this year, landing in
Florida in June and July. Though the tour and the zoo exhibit
aren’t specifi cally linked, Pam Kaufman, Nick’s EVP of marketing
and worldwide partnerships, says the two initiatives are
part of a larger effort to push the theme of Diego’s connection to
animals. “It adds up to more noise around Diego than a one-off
promotion can create,” she says.